【216-218】China Urges US Companies to Lobby Officials over Trade

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*【216】AS IT IS

US Officials Guarded as Silicon Valley Welcomes Chinese Investments

July 12, 2018

The United States began requiring tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports last week. The newly-announced taxes target 800 products from China.

Now, another trade battle between the two countries is taking shape.

The Trump administration is considering whether the government should block Chinese investments in some U.S. businesses. Administration officials are looking at companies that work mainly in fields such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and other computer technology.

The U.S. Department of Defense says some of these fields are related to national security. The department prepared a report on growing Chinese ties to American companies.

U.S. lawmakers are considering expanding a Treasury Department system for examining investments from overseas. Texas Senator John Cornyn is a member of the Republican Party.

“I assure you that the threat China poses is real and the dangers we worry about are already taking effect."

Cornyn supports the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, a bill that would strengthen the inspection process. He added that the lack of American action can be only dangerous for the country and needs to be stopped.

Limiting Chinese investments has to be done carefully, said Jeff Moon, a former assistant U.S. trade representative.

"The biggest problem I see is just vagueness when we talk about Chinese investment," Moon added. He asked whether the United States would question anyone from China who invested a small amount in the economy.

The Thinking of Silicon Valley

California’s Silicon Valley is considered the home of many American high-tech companies. Businesses there are pleased that the Trump administration seems to have backed away from a plan to restrict Chinese investment. It would block investment into AI and other technologies in the United States by a company with more than 25 percent Chinese ownership.

While the national security concerns are real, high-tech companies and investors do not want policies that set up strong barriers to overseas investment. That is because the investment from China has been good for the American economy, notes Sean Randolph of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

"How concerned should we be about…leakage, if that's the term," Randolph asked. He wondered how the United States should work to stop leakage in a way that will not have a damaging economic effect, either in the U.S. or China.

Collaboration valued

Recently, Silicon Valley held its first U.S.-China meeting on AI technologies. Delegates discussed how the two nations can work better together.

"The technology is shared…and better for humankind. I don't think it's one country against another country," said Tao Wang of SAIC Capital.

Helen Liang is a managing partner of FoundersX, an investment company. She noted that business leaders and companies in AI hope to be able to work on big issues like health care, transportation and work.

“We are looking to solve society's problems," said Liang, whose business helps startup companies build business relationships in China. She added that technology looks past the politics of nations.

"Disruption" from both countries

Nicolas Miailhe is president of The Future Society, a non-profit research group. He says that any limits on investment from China to the United States could also slow down U.S. innovation.

"We have been used to disruptive business models emerging from the Silicon Valley here. This is changing. [We are now] seeing new and disrupting, disruptive business models emerging from China."

"Disruption" is a favorite term in Silicon Valley. It describes the way new technologies can lead great and unpredictable results in an industry.

The possibility of disruption is what excites these business leaders. It is also what worries some U.S. lawmakers back in Washington.

I’m Susan Shand.

VOA’s Michelle Quinn reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it. The editor was

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

tariff – n. a tax on goods coming into or leaving a country

artificial intelligence –n.ability of a machine to reproduce human behavior

pose – v.to be or create a possible threat, danger or problem

vagueness – n.in a way that is not clearly stated or expressed

startup – n.a new company

innovation – n.the act of creating new ideas, systems or products

*【217】AS IT IS

China Urges US Companies to Lobby Officials over Trade

July 12, 2018

FILE - Visitors check out the Ford booth during the Auto China 2018 show, in Beijing, China, April 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China is urging American companies to tell the U.S. government to protect their interests.

At issue is a Trump administration plan for 10-percent tariffs on Chinese products entering the United States. Those imported goods are worth about $200 billion.

“We hope U.S. firms can do more to lobby the U.S. government and work hard to defend their interests,” said a spokesman for China’s commerce ministry. He told reporters in Beijing that foreign businesses operating in China would suffer in a trade war.

The statement is the latest move in growing trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. The spokesman noted that the two sides are not in talks to end the dispute.

The proposed new U.S. tariffs follow the Trump administration’s decision to require taxes on $50 billion in Chinese goods.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the administration has urged China to end unfair trade, open its market and take part in true market competition.

Instead of dealing with U.S. concerns, China has begun to take steps against American products, Lighthizer said. “There is no justification for such action," he added.

The proposed new taxes come just days after the administration ordered 25 percent tariffs on more than 800 Chinese products. Those imported goods are worth about $34 billion. The administration blamed what it believes are China’s unfair trade actions and failure to protect intellectual property rights.

A short time later, the Chinese government ordered an equal amount of taxes on U.S. goods.

The Yang Ming shipping line container ship Ym Utmost is unloaded at the Port of Oakland on Monday, July 2, 2018, in Oakland, Calif. The Trump administration on Friday, July 6, 2018, will start imposing tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports.

Christine McDaniel is a senior research fellow at George Mason University in Virginia. She told VOA that the administration's strategy of tariffs and investment restrictions could be costly to U.S. manufacturers and citizens alike.

"A tariff is a tax and … American manufacturers are simply tied to suppliers from outside the U.S. for their competitiveness,” she said. “So when we tax those imports, we’re taxing American manufacturers…and that heavily handicaps our own manufacturers."

McDaniel said the longer the tariff battle lasts, the greater the effect will be on both economies. She added trade actions against China would be more effective if they were done at the same time as actions by America's allies.

McDaniel said that she expects China to slowly move away from state-owned businesses and use more free market rules, but predicts that will take time.

A man waits for the goods to be load on his tricycle at a dealer selling imported seafoods at the Jingshen seafood market in Beijing, Thursday, July 12, 2018.

U.S. lawmakers have generally expressed support for the Trump administration’s latest move against China. But the move brought criticism from Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Ryan said he opposes the tariffs and “they are not the right way to go." China is one of many countries that use unfair trade rules, but tariffs are not the right way to solve the problem, he added.

Ryan is retiring at the end of his term in January 2019. He is a member of Trump’s Republican Party.

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, another Republican, said in a statement the administration’s decision “appears reckless and is not a targeted approach.”

Hatch is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He also is retiring at the end of his term.

But other Republicans support the president's move. Virginia Congressman Tom Garrett said China will lose a trade war “because right now we are importing about $5 of Chinese goods for every $1 we send to China. If they want to play this game, the Chinese economy will be hurt more."

Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey predicted that “the Chinese government will be hurt… Where will they find markets like the U.S.? They are not going to find as many in the EU or anywhere else for their products."

A high-level administration official said a final decision on the proposed tariffs will be made later this year.

I’m Susan Shand.

This story was based on reports from Reuters news agency and VOA News. Susan Shand adapted the stories for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

tariff – n. a tax on imported or sometimes exported goods

firm – n. a business or company

lobby – v. an organized group of people who work together to influence government decisions that relate to a particular industry, issue

fellow – n. someone appointed to a position in which he or she receives financial aid and is offered a chance to carry out research

strategy – n. a careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal usually over a long period of time

handicap – v. a problem, situation, or event that makes progress or success difficult

reckless – adj. not showing proper concern about the possible bad results of your actions

approach – n. a way of dealing with something : a way of doing or thinking about something

*【218】AS IT IS

US: Half of Small Children, Migrant Families Reunited

July 12, 2018

In this image taken from video, Javier Garrido Martinez, left and Alan Garcia, right, sit with their 4-year-sons at a news conference in New York, Wednesday, July 11, 2018. They men were reunited with their children after almost two months of separation, Authorities took their boys them when they stopped at the U.S. southern border. (AP Photo/Robert Bumsted)

The United States says all eligible young children separated from their families have been reunited with their parents. The families were separated as a result of the country’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.

As of Thursday morning, 57 children under the age of five had been reunited with their parents, the Trump administration said in a statement.

The administration said another 46 children under the age of five remain separated from their families because of safety concerns and other issues.

Between May and June of this year, about 2,300 children were separated from their families at the United States’ border with Mexico. The zero-tolerance policy required adults to be sent to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Children traveling with them were sent to centers run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The families are mostly from Central American countries. They crossed through Mexico to reach the U.S. border.

On June 20, Trump signed an executive order to end the practice. The order came after many news reports showed emotional images of young children at the border crying for their parents.

The Trump administration was under a federal court order to reunite all of the more than 100 children under the age of five with their separated families. The order came as a result of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU.

ACLU lawyers said Thursday, “If in fact 57 children have been reunited because of the lawsuit, we could not be more happy for those families. But make no mistake about it: the government missed the deadline even for these 57 children."

Javier Garrido Martinez holds his 4-year-old son during a news conference in New York, Wednesday, July 11, 2018.

The court-ordered deadline was July 10. Federal officials had difficulty trying to meet the tight, two-week deadline set by the federal judge.

Officials said current systems were not set up to reunify parents with their children. They were set up to deal with children who cross the border illegally without family.

Government officials say 46 of the young children were not eligible to be reunited with their parents. They said some of their parents had already been deported. Nine parents were being kept for other offenses. One parent could not be found. In other cases, officials said the adults had criminal histories, including child cruelty and human smuggling.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department has been charged with care for the children. The Homeland Security Department oversees detention of adult immigrants. And the Justice Department manages the immigration courts.

The Trump administration faces a second deadline on July 26. They are to reunite more than 2,000 older children with their families.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on AP news reports. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

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